The team was back in action on Tuesday night, involved in the search for a male who got seperated from the rest of his party on a walk back from Seacombe to Langton. Unlike the clear cold days of the last month, the weather turned damp yesterday with a heavy mist and this combined with failing light, cold temperatures and slippy conditions served to disorientate the walker who ordinarily knew the area well.

When the alarm was raised, the ops team at Portland Coastguard put their extensive knowledge of the area to good use and directed the search which also involved our coastguard rescue colleagues at St Albans and Dorset Police.

The story had a happy ending when the walker turned up after nearly six hours, cold, wet, tired and very muddy, but otherwise safe and well. If you're planning a walk along the coast path over the next few days, take care -after the recent snow, it's very muddy and slippery and when it's dark and foggy and you're tired, lost and alone it's not the best place to be!

During 2010, two incidents come to me that were not exactly "Coastguard standard incidents"

There I was sitting enjoying a cup of tea, the next.

And no we didn't start the fire, someone left a BBQ to near the grass and the next thing it went up. Thanks to our prompt action along with some members of the public the fire was put out before a major heath fire was started.
The other incident was a mountain biker who was seriously injured on Godlingston Hill, Ambulance couldn't get near the site, so along with the crew of Rescue 106 the male was airlifted to Poole Hospital.

Both incidents highlight our role in the community and that its not always maritime incidents we deal with.

Monday, 27 December 2010

Thankfully the team had a quite few days with no call outs, although a windsurfer caused the watch keeper at NCI some concern this afternoon. Just as he liaised with Portland MRCC the windsurfer managed to get ashore safely.

So as we approach the end of the year, we will highlight some of the incidents that occurred during 2010.

Wednesday, 22 December 2010

I've just got in to be greeted by this headline in our local paper. Already a family member has been on the phone concerned its our station that is closing.

I fear my phone will be busy again tomorrow explaining to our local supporters what this consultation is all about. Remember our earlier Blog about the difference between our station and a MRCC, we urge everyone to read the consultation document (see the link to the right) and reply on the points raised.

Monday, 20 December 2010

Someone left a question on one of the recent blogs asking if we have nominated drivers for the vehicle?

Not a easy question to answer as many factors come into play.

When you join and if you have a driving license, you start to learn to drive the vehicle on dry roads . From there you progress on to other conditions and other terrains, sand, mud etc. but still not under emergency condtions. Only when the Sector Manager and Station Officer are happy can you progress to "blue light" driving and then again going through all the different terrain conditions.

There is also trailer driving, which these days can cause a problem as not everyone has a trailer entitlement on their licenses anymore.

Down here we dont get snow very often so training under these conditions doesnt happen very often.

So to answer the oringinal question, yes everyone can drive the vehicle, however it depends on the incident, the location and the training the individual has had.

Currently with this weather its down to a Risk Assessment, discussed with the Operations Room, the Sector Manager, Station Officer or Deputy Station Officer.

Saturday, 18 December 2010

This afternoon we took the vehicle out to check the area.
In these conditions its important to run the truck as the cold affects the battery and also to ensure its working correctly.
There was some driver training and accident prevention with members of the public.
Seeing the vehicle out it offers reassurance to the public but probably the most important part was checking the various routes. The above picture is the B3351 which is the back road between Corfe and Studland, OK in a 4 x 4 but perhaps not in a normal car?
On completion of the patrol all the information was fed back to the Operation Room (Portland Coastguard) so they could feed this to other emergency services in Dorset to build a good picture of whats happening across the county.

Brittany Ferries have decided to return the Barfleur cross channel ferry to the Poole - Cherbourg route. Great news for the local economy and everyone that wants to go to France. It'll run from February to September when they'll assess the financial viability of the route. I suppose it's use it or loose it.

Regular readers will remember the Barfleur incident last year when what can only be decribed as 'all hell breaking loose' when we were tasked to what we thought was a young Russian family who had jumped over board the Balfleur Ferry.

Our local MRCC at Portland worked throughout the night to resolve the situation by morning.The incident demonstrated the enormous amount of effort put in by the Watch Officers over at Portland who co-ordinated three coastguard teams, a helicopter and two RNLI lifeboats. Using local knowledge they were able to plot the likely areas of search which grew by the hour while keeping us all safe on the ground. A 5 star effort.

Friday, 17 December 2010

We are very grateful to the many people in the last 24 hours offering support or are concerned about the future of the Coastguard in the local area, all we can recommend is that you log on to the MCA website and read the prosposal document in full, then use the online document to ask questions or concerns direct to the MCA.

To help a little with terminolgy and possible confusion about the general term in the press about Coastguard Stations , our station is known as a Coastguard Rescue Station (CRS) staffed by volunteer Rescue Officers. Maritime Rescue Coordination Centres (MRCCs) are the 24 hour rescue centres operated by full time Coastguards. Their role is to take the emergency calls and coordinate the search and rescue assets.

Anyone connected to the sea or coastal users are urged to make comment during this consulation period , log on at

Tuesday, 14 December 2010

So there I was, enjoying my daughters Nativity play when a local chocolate producing shop owner sitting next to me asks for some advice. "Whats the weather going to do"?

There are some important orders to dispatch before Christmas and its important to know if the orders would get there or not.....so why not ask your local coastguard?

So there we were looking at the forecast on the Internet trying to decide what parts of the country will be affected on Thursday and Friday.

So on Christmas day when you open your presents and you find chocolates, spare a thought for the Coastguard and the part they may have paid in getting those chocolates to the shops.(find an empty box and no doubt we will get the blame too!)

Again this year the pressures on the emergency services has increased during the cold weather. This includes the Coastguard up and down the country using their 4x4 vehicles and local knowledge to support other services but more importantly their communities.

As this link from the main MCA shows, the Coastguard have been busy in Scotland supporting the NHS.

Another good rescue yesterday with assistance from our friends at Swanage Lifeboat. As always the press are thanking the RNLI and Swanage Team. However as always one group gets forgotten.

Much of the co-ordination for such rescues comes from the watch officers at Portland MRCC who being local themselves know the area well. Last summer a group of the watch team popped over to Swanage ( in their own time) to walk the cliffs to gain further local knowledge; now there's commitment. It means that they have a great understanding of this busy stretch of the Dorset Coast and are able to put that knowledge into use when required.

It's always reassuring on cold dark nights when your up against it to have the team at Portland watching over you and keeping you safe. Thanks if you're reading.

It appears the owner had lost the dog in the morning and for some reason had not notified the Coastguard or Police at the time. Passing walkers heard the dog this afternoon and called the Coastguard as there was concern the dogs owner had also fallen. The IRT arrived on scene and due to the location decided it was safer to request the ILB to recover the dog.

Thankfully the dog had no injuries and was reunited to a very relieved owner at the lifeboat house.

This is the 9th (ninth) dog incident this year for the team, some have not had a happy ending. Again we ask owners of dogs to keep dogs on leads when near the cliffs, and should you lose you dog near the cliffs please report it to the Coastguard and Police straight away.

Friday, 10 December 2010

Training night last night, and another chance to get familiar with the new cliff harnesses. Although we have had them for a few weeks now we won't put them into service until we're ready; nobody wants to be on a cliff top late at night with a casualty stuck half way down, wind and rain howling, panicking about how the harness fastens together.
It's kit night next week so we'll probably take the opportunity to swap the harnesses then.

Also in a busy training night we had a debrief on last week's Christmas meal, tested and approved a pack of mince pies kindly brought in by the DSO and had a visit from the main man Father Christmas courtesy of the Rotary Club.

Wednesday, 8 December 2010

Its that time of the year where the christmas tree will be coming out of the cupboard and dusted down. Last year readers might remember that "Gareth" was selected as the fairy for the top of the tree...........who will be selected this year?

Monday, 6 December 2010

As Ian has already posted, it was the Coastguard Christmas meal on Saturday, so for the benefit of those colleagues who couldn't make it, and for our general readership (hi to you both ...) I thought I'd share some of the jokes from the crackers...

Q: What does the word minimum mean?A: A very small mother

Q:What did the beaver say to the tree?A: Nice gnawing you

Q:Why did the witch put her broom in the washing machine?A: She wanted to have a clean sweep.

Seriously folks, this is as good as it gets, so I'll stop there. But at least in these environmental times its good to see that even bad jokes can be recycled and re-used.

Sunday, 5 December 2010

It was the annual Coastguard Christmas dinner last night and that meant the awarding of the "Swanage Coastguard of the Year" award.

The award is presented in memory of Mike "Spike" Williamson who passed away in 2004, the award is given to team member who has contributed the most to the team.

Now normally its a team decision, however to avoid the risk of a recent football voting scandal, the DSO and I decided we would make the important decision.

This year the award was given to two team members.

Eric - When Eric isn't away on holiday, his commitment to the team has been great this year especially during the day when our IRT coverage is a little short. Eric always turns up with a smile and normally a joke which helps the team get on with the task.

Gareth - Poor Gareth (and Mrs K) get put on a lot living next to the station, alarm activations, checking the building, chasing off youths playing on the building are just some of the things Gareth has done. But its when the pagers go off and you get there to find the truck out of the station, kitted up and ready to go which is one of the main reasons for his award this year.

But lets not forgot the whole team, this year had been our busiest ever and its a credit to all of them that our work continues in the town.

Saturday, 4 December 2010

Whilst we got a small amount of snow compared to some parts of the country people enjoyed themselves and to my knowledge stayed safe.

Last night the IRT were out assisting South Western Ambulance as they could not get their ambulance up one of the steepest roads in Swanage, so asked if they could use our 4 x 4.
The patient was transfered from home to the truck, down the hill and then transferred to the waiting ambulance all in a matter or mintues.

Tuesday, 30 November 2010

Just checked the team agreement to see who's on call tomorrow (under CG rules, we're not allowed a rota so we have an agreement amongst the team as to who will assume IRT cover on a particular day, and then the boss writes it down in Excel format for easy reference. But, its definitely NOT a rota).

So, the team agreement shows Messrs Craker and Brown on IRT for the night of 31st November.

A mutiny was averted last night due to the swift deployment of jaffa cakes. (Purchased by Dee)

Meanwhile one of the chaps accidentally brought a Michael Buble album to the station. Fair to say that whilst Mr Buble can hold a tune, it's not something to bring on a Coastguard Station unless you're up for two hours of merciless leg pulling. Driving legend ‘Ian Moustache’ also turned up to help in the harassment.

In what can only be described as a complete and utter massively disappointing let down we shall not be having mince pies tonight at kit night. The management (aka Ian) promised them and has now decided that we shall have none.

This morning Austen, Gareth and I met at the station to check the building, it was freezing in the garage.....yes the temperature was zero!

This afternoon Gareth and Austen popped out for an hour to give the truck a run, whilst we aren't carrying out accident prevention patrols at the moment, its important to keep the truck in working order.

Thursday, 25 November 2010

When I arrived at the incident last night I chucked my work bag into the truck and started to get briefed by Austen. Thankful the incident was nearly finished and we were soon on the way back to the station for a de brief. Back at the station I asked where my bag was and some kind person shouted its ok its in the truck....... I recovered my bag from the back seat and discovered that my tea.....a Cornish Pasty was now the size of a sausage roll......

During one of our uniform blogs, a sharp eyed reader spotted that John's medals were being worn the wrong way round. Well spotted and thank you, the photo was taken 2 years ago and now in our new procedure manual issued in June there is a section which clearly explains "Medal Protocol"

"The order of precedence (from the centre of the body) is: Orders, Decorations, Campaign Medals, Commemorative Medals (e.g. the new jubliee Medal) and lastly Long Service Awards."

So we will do better !

The Royal Warrant for the award of the Long Service Medal to volunteer Coastguards was introduced and signed by Her Majesty the Queen on 27 January 1954. The original Warrant has since been subject to Amending Warrants in 1966, 1997 and 2002.

The Warrant enables the award of the Long Service Medal to those recommended who have completed 20 years service as a volunteer Coastguard rescue Officer.

The Warrant also enables the award of a Clasp to the Medal after an additional 10 years service and then a second Clasp after a further 10 years (40 years in total service).

There was a certain inevitability that something would go wrong....and it did. Fortunately, it could have been a lot worse, but equally it would have been a whole lot easier on the rescue services, on their families and on the guys themselves if they hadn't attempted a late night dip in the first place!

Friday, 19 November 2010

Our Sector Manager, Rob, came down last night with lots of new kit and to provide some training. Ooooh new kit, always smells good.

We learnt to Huddle, ….yup Huddling. It’s when three grown men put their arms around each other and wade into water to save someone. Whilst it looks a little odd it gives stability in swift water conditions.

It was a bit like Strictly Come Dancing, three men spinning around like a bunch of ballroom dancers. I for one will not be voting for Austen. In reply Aus said he’d look good in a ballroom dress, I have no reason to doubt this and no reason to want to see him in one either.

Thursday, 18 November 2010

Colleagues in Hampshire have joined police, fire and RNLI teams in a massive flood rescue exercise designed to get all parties working better together in a real emergency. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11793416. Of course, as reported in our earlier post, colleagues in Cornwall were doing it for real this week.

We were doing some water rescue training of our own tonight although not on such a grand scale. More about this and maybe some pictures too tomorrow...

Wednesday, 17 November 2010

A spokesman from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said coastguard teams were working with emergency services to evacuate flooded buildings across coastal communities, with the incident elevated to "gold command".

Saturday, 13 November 2010

Another happy customer (our 8th or 9th dog related incident this year). Walking near to Durlston Castle, a squirrel seemed fun to chase however whilst the squirrel took a right turn up the tree, Zoe took a dive over the cliff landing 40ft below.

The area is very steep so to get her back up a full rescue had to be instigated to ensure the safety of the team and Zoe.

Assisted by the St Albans team, Zoe was recovered safe and well back to the top (well done Gareth on your 1st rescue as a newly qualified technician).

There was a heart stopping moment as the dog bag was opened and I asked if anyone had hold of the lead as Zoe jumped towards her owners and then promptly back in the direction of the cliff!

Friday, 12 November 2010

Black and Whites......used on patrols, meetings or other official duties, also worn under the jacket during official duties. During the winter or those colder summer days, a Coastguard blue jumper is worn over the shirt.

First day back on IRT call for your Occasional Blogger today having had a few days away. Looks like the number of incidents has tailed right off lately and today was no different (perhaps the safety message is getting through??) A quiet return to duty then.

And what about Deputy Blog's weather forecasting yesterday? 24 hours of rain? It's been glorious today for those of us fortunate enough to have been in Swanage.

Tuesday, 9 November 2010

Well it looks like rain for the next 24 hours. (ok ok 6.32 hours!!!)We better keep watch on the Coastguard Station which despite being brand spanking new floods outside. A mixture of a natural spring in the car park which constantly runs, and the fact that when raining the whole car park sheds water to the lowest point. (i.e. outside our station). The drains are unable to cope and it all backs up.

“So what, the water’s outside”, I here you say. Well the problem is that as soon as the rescue vehicle is taken out of the door its wheels are under a foot or so of water which means no one can get in without getting both them and the rescue kit wet. Sadly the contractors and architect did not take account of our concerns which were identified at the building stage.

So we drive the vehicle 50 yards up the car park lug all the kit through the building and out the side door. Always a nightmare job in the rain, especially when dark and cold and under pressure to meet our rescue tasking.
Still it could be worse it could be winter, when the spring water outside the doors freezes it’s deadly.

Sunday, 7 November 2010

On the theme of uniforms, these jackets (and hats) are for "posh " or special events, like remembrance parades. Long ago Coastguard Officers wore these jackets all the time and I've seen officers standing in the water wearing them!

Rank insignia is put on the sleeves, medals on left (although in the above picture John has medals on the right which are his families medals)

Friday, 5 November 2010

A sharped eyed reader has spotted some team members wearing different logos on their polo shirts and asked why?

Well both logos are in use, the Coastguard Crest (top) is an offical crest and is very important to team members. The MCA logo was brought in during the 1990's when HM Coastguard and two other maritime agencies merged to form the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

From 1990 all our clothing started to come in with the MCA logo on but Coastguard Rescues Officers (called Auxiliaries in those days) wanted to continue using the crest to show the search and rescue side of the agency rather than the "MCA Brand"

As time went on the Agency when on to supply polo shirts with the MCA logo on and various teams went out and purchased privately similar style polo shirts but with the Crest on and their station name on, it was sort of adopted unoffically but funny how it was copied all around the country!

So official you are meant to wear the MCA tops but its accepted team members have brought their own tops with the crest on.

Rumour has it that in time we may revert to the crest only again .....we wait and see.

Thursday, 4 November 2010

You would think at this time of year things should slow down.....er no

Meetings to discuss the year and put in place actions ready for next year, paperwork that needs updating and generally networking with other organisations to ensure smooth work in the future.

In Swanage we are very good at working together, Police, Fire,Town Council, Ambulance and Lifeboat and its not till things like the chain ferry going off for a service do we realise how we do rely on each other for support.

The team are focusing on our tidy up weekend, when we are having a major autumn clean up of the station, mostly so we can find all the clothing thats been lost over the year!There are some minor repairs to be done and a flag pole base to be done....watch this space.

Monday, 1 November 2010

It's great to get out in the mountains away from the hustle and bussle of everyday.....ZROOOMMMM a Tornado Jet flies down the valley. Yeah thanks for that RAF chaps!

Still perhaps a quiet walk around the Thirlmere Woods looking for Red Squizzels. So we're tip toeing around so not to scare the little blighters... WHOOOP WHOOP WHOOP and we now have three Longbow Apache Attack Helicopters over the lake. Yeah thanks Army Flying chaps!

Get back to the cottage, ah peace and quiet... Nope. More WHOOOP WHOOPS from a Search and Rescue Helicopter as it buzzes the cottage. Yeah thanks Search and Rescue Chaps!

Then BEEP BEEP, it's Ian texting me to see if I have a blog........There's no escape.

Sunday, 31 October 2010

As the season draws to a close we headed out on Saturday to check the route up to the remote aerial site on top of Godlingston Hill. Its ok in the day, but I bet we would have to go up there in the dark and no doubt when the weather is horrendous !

For security reasons we cant show you inside the bunker (although its obvious where it is!), but on route Tom and Rid had a little issue with a gate.

Thankfully Tom mended the gate, we found the bunker, got in but were concerned with the number of warning signs on the door regarding radiation and if you lost radio 2 briefly at 2.30 on Saturday, I did tell Tom not to press the button !

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